That’s Great, UPS: Just Fling My $1,200 Laptop At The Porch Without Getting A Signature

Signature not actually required.

Signature not actually required.

Steve had the new computer that he bought his wife for Christmas shipped to his home. Where else would you send a laptop? The spare power adapter shipped first, and no one was home to sign for the package, so back to Lenovo it went after three attempts. When the computer was on its way, Christmas was closer, and Steve made sure that there was always someone home to sign for the package in order to make sure he didn’t miss it. He didn’t miss it, mostly because the driver chucked it at the porch without ringing the doorbell. A great big box that says “Hey, come steal this Lenovo Thinkpad!” on it. Well, maybe not those first four words.

Steve writes:

Back during Black Friday I purchased my wife a new Laptop for Christmas. I went all out and got her a Thinkpad Twist with every option so this was close to a $1,200 computer. While I was at it I added an extra power brick for another $40. Not really thinking about it all, I opt to have the order shipped to my house.

A few days later I received a shipping notice for the power brick. What I did not realize is that Lenovo opted to have a signature required for it. Because of a crazy spell in our schedule we wind up missing all 3 delivery attempts and it is sent back. My fault, but a pain in the butt to deal with.

Jump forward almost a month. The computer finally ships, due to arrive on Friday the 21st. I make arrangements to have someone home all day for delivery, a trusted employee in the morning and then me later in the day. About 3:30 my dogs start barking and I open the front door to see the UPS guy tossing the laptop box onto my front porch – it was a gentle toss from about 5 feet, but a toss none the less. When he starts waking back to the truck I ask about a signature – he says that none is needed. The computer was in just the regular box with Lenovo Thinkpad printed in a number of places so a thief would know it had some value in it. A thief with a smartphone could have googled the model # also on the outside of the box and realized it was a pretty good score.

When I looked at the tracking later for proof of delivery it seems like it was signed for by DR, the driver perhaps? I just can not understand why a $40 power brick gets returned to sender while an almost $1,200 computer is just tossed onto a porch. I guess I’m lucky though – for some reason one of the drivers that delivers to the house likes to leave packages in the flower bed about 10 feet from the
covered porch.

If the package were left in the flower bed, would the signature box say “FL” instead?

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